Positivity: Hospice Sometimes Marks a New Beginning of Continued Life
I didn’t know this, and it’s very encouraging. This read-the-whole-thing article notes that, among many others, columnist Art Buchwald is among those who entered hospice care with “only a few weeks to live,” but now is back in the outside world:
Hospice stay isn’t always an ending
Many with terminal illnesses outlive doctors’ predictions and leave
BY KAREN GARLOCH and Frank Greve
July 9, 2006When doctors predicted humor columnist Art Buchwald would die of end-stage renal disease in two or three weeks, he moved into a Washington hospice.
That was five months ago.
That the 81-year-old hasn’t died, and is in fact enjoying another summer on Martha’s Vineyard, is proof that predicting the arc of terminal illnesses is difficult.
On July 1, Buchwald left the hospice because his health had improved, despite his decision to reject blood-cleansing treatments.
This turnabout is a familiar pattern in the world of hospice, where doctors, nurses, social workers and chaplains do their best to relieve pain and provide emotional support so that dying patients and their families can focus on quality of life.
“When people feel better, and they’re able to think about other things than their pain, they often live longer than expected,” said Janet Fortner, president and chief executive officer of Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte Region.
“When someone comes under hospice care, the focus is not the disease,” she said. “The individual becomes the center of attention — what their goals are, what their needs are. It’s all about their quality of life and their relationships, not curing the disease, because the disease is deemed at this point to be incurable.”
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.2 million people are enrolled in hospice each year, and about 12 percent are discharged alive.
About a third of post-hospice patients die within six months of their discharge, according to one study. Many of the rest go to nursing homes because, while not at death’s door, they continue to suffer from chronic diseases, often Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia.
Fortner said some patients are referred back to hospice after discharge, and some die without the benefit of hospice services. Just because they are discharged doesn’t mean they no longer have a terminal illness, just that they are no longer deemed to have six months or less to live.
Buchwald likens his life after hospice to booking a seat on a plane, having the flight canceled, and ending up on standby indefinitely.
He has ditched plans to have singer Carly Simon, a Vineyard crony, perform at his funeral. Instead, she will serenade him with the 1940s ballad that starts: “I’ll be seeing you in all the old familiar places.”
